Six Knights and a Prince (Princess?)
by caitybug13
Summary: What if, not long after the death of her mom, Haruhi's dad dies in a car accident, leaving Haruhi with her mean and abusive Uncle. When she meets a group of weird but attractive boys at her new rich people school, will one of (or all) of them notice the dark secret Haruhi is keeping? And if they notice, will they save her?
1. Chapter 1

What if both if, not long after the death of her mom, Haruhi's dad dies in a car accident, leaving Haruhi with her mean and abusive Uncle. When she meets a group of weird but attractive boys at her new rich people school, will one of (or all) of them notice the dark secret Haruhi is keeping? And if they notice, will they save her?

. . . .

Chapter 1 – Ouran's ridiculous (but slightly attractive) host club

Haruhi Fujioka pulled her father's old sweater on over her wrinkly button down shirt and glanced over her appearance. Presentable… sort of. Thankfully, she really didn't care that much. If she were the kind of girl to care about her appearance, then she would have been in quite the predicament, being as she didn't have very many nice, girly, clothes. But it wasn't like she would be able to compete with those rich girls she was going to school with anyways, with their expensive make-up and all of that free time on their hands to fuss over their appearance.

 _Those rich bastards,_ Haruhi thought to herself.

She had just begun to get acquainted with the ways of the rich at her new high school, Ouran Academy. She wasn't impressed. But her status as the poor scholarship student was like an invisible pity-lined cloak that kept just about everyone's eyes conveniently off of her.

As she made her way to class, she didn't even bother to re-check her body to see if any of her bruises were showing. No one would look or care anyway.

And that was how her day went. She studied and listened in class, mainly bored and usually with a far-away look in her eyes, until the bell rang for the end of school.

Usually, this was when she went home. But she didn't particularly want to go back just yet, and the homework she needed to get done was just the kind of excuse she needed to justify her staying late at school. She wandered the school building, trying to find a quiet place to study and to give herself some peaceful alone time. _These rich people sure do have a lot of time on their hands,_ Haruhi thought as she passed yet another room with babbling students who showed no interest in going home or doing anything even slightly productive.

She continued down the hall, following her ears to probably the only quiet place in the entire school building. _Music Room 3, huh._ Haruhi hesitated only a moment before taking the opportunity for some peace and quiet, and turning the door knob.

"Welcome!"

Haruhi was struck silent, either by how gorgeous the boys in front of her were, or by how absurd their posing in front of the door like that looked. It was probably the latter.

There were a total of six boys, one of which was a blonde kid sitting on a throne, hand outstretched and a cheesy princely smile on his face. If Haruhi weren't so shocked and embarrassed by having walked in on… whatever it was these boys were doing, she would have laughed. Actually, she almost did laugh.

"Oh! It's a guy. How _boring_." The two boys who had somehow managed to speak in complete synchronization turned to face each other as they spoke, shrugging.

"Watch your mouths." The ridiculous blonde said while sitting on his even more ridiculous throne. Actually, as Haruhi looked more closely, he really did look kind of like a prince… "He is an honored guest, even if he is a guy."

Haruhi paled. Was this really… "Welcome to the Ouran Koukou Host Club, rare scholarship student Haruhi Fujioka." Yep. This was a host club. A school host club.

And did they just call her a "rare scholarship student"? Like she was some kind of rare endangered bird they'd accidently come across in the local park? And they thought she was a guy. Well, she could deal with being seen as a guy. That didn't really matter. Less of a hassle, at least. But, how did they know who she was? _Oh yeah,_ she thought, _I'm apparently a rare endangered species or something._

While Haruhi was slightly lost in her own head, the blonde boy was carrying on about her being a commoner and a hero. She wasn't quite sure if he was intending to insult her or compliment her, but it was sort of irritating. "But I can't believe the rumored student is _gay,"_ he continued and Haruhi slumped forward. When had she ever told this crazy boy she was gay? She hated people who just made assumptions and followed stereotypes all of the time. "So, what do you like? The stoic type? Lolita?" With every suggestion the boy was backing her farther into the room. Unaccustomed to such situations, Haruhi didn't know what to do except to back farther away from the approaching boy. "What about trying me?" The boy smiled and bent closer, completely invading her personal bubble.

Haruhi scrambled away, and right into a vase that, for some reason or another, was placed on a pedestal right smack in the center of the room. _What the heck?!_ Haruhi made a grab for the falling object, but it was far too late and her arms were way too short. Crash!

Was that just the vase crashing, or all of her hopes and dreams with it?

She was frozen until the dreadful "eight million yen" were spoken by the scary looking guy in the glasses. Yes, she had just shattered her own soul. Eight. Million. Yen.

She still hadn't even found the money to buy herself a school uniform yet.

Her heart was beating fast, hair standing on end. She had to do something, quick! Before they decided to contact her family to get the money back. Oh, if her uncle found out about this he would be absolutely livid. She would be a dead woman. She… she would rather become the slave of these ridiculous host club kids then to do _that!_

"I'll – I'll pay it back!"

"Really?" One of the red headed boys slithered up to her.

"Can you really do that?" The other one followed.

"You can't even buy your own uniform." They said in their creepy synchronized voice.

"Fujioka-kun," the blonde said. He was continuing his princely act for Haruhi. "Have you ever heard the proverb 'when in Rome, do as the Roman's do'?" He looked at Haruhi and she knew she was probably going to regret whatever words were about to leave this idiot's mouth. "From now on, you will be the Host Club's dog!"

What?!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – I'm a Host(ess)?!

Haruhi was beginning to understand this strange group of boys. Or, at least, she thought she was. To be perfectly honest, she wasn't entirely sure if _anyone_ could come to fully understand them.

This was what she had gathered:

1\. The official leader (or president, as they called him) of the host club was Tamaki. The unofficial (and true) leader was Kyoya.

2\. Nothing happened without Kyoya's both knowing about it and approving of it.

3\. The boys, excluding Kyoya (and maybe Mori…) were all complete and utter idiots.

That was all she really knew and probably all she really _needed_ to know about the group.

It was convenient, how stupid they were. They still thought she was a boy, and she had been spending every day after school with them for two weeks straight now. Everything was running smoothly. Haruhi spent her afternoons away from the home she didn't want to be at and at school doing chores and watching the host club entertain ridiculously silly rich girls.

At first it was a little bit embarrassing to watch, but the premise of the host club eventually grew on her. She watched Tamaki act like a prince, fawning over girls and treating them like they were each his princess. She watched Kyoya coolly charm the girls from a distance. She watched how Honey-senpai wormed his way into the girl's hearts with his adorable stuffed animals and cake, and how Mori silently watching over Honey made the girls swoon.

And the twins. It was probably the weirdest of all the acts, how they used the 'brotherly love' tactic and pushed around the edges of acceptable behavior and into the zone of… yeah. She didn't really want to say that out loud.

But the thing was, after observing the host club, Haruhi realized that all of the acts weren't strictly acts. Tamaki really was prince-like, just as Kyoya was coolly indifferent. Mori really did take care of Honey as if his life was meant to only serve Honey, a sweet boy who truly did love sweets and cute stuff. And the twins actually did have a very close relationship, one that bordered on concerning.

As far as Haruhi could tell, this club was pretty much a group of friends who liked to hang out with girls and used their personalities to make said girls smile. And there really wasn't anything wrong about that.

"I brought coffee," Haruhi said, coming up to Tamika that afternoon. Tamaki was in the midst of charming a young brunette, but he stopped when he heard Haruhi approach. Haruhi handed him the coffee and, at Tamaki's shocked face, scooted closer to look.

"Is that _commoner's_ coffee?" She asked, eyes wide.

Haruhi looked at Tamaki, who was staring at the coffee like it was something entirely foreign to him. _Oh great,_ Haruhi thought, _I've broken senpai's brain with a can of coffee. "_ I'm sorry senpai," Haruhi said, frowning, "I can take it back and get the other stuff. I just thought-"

In the midst of her sentence Haruhi was nearly knocked over by an overexcited Tamaki. He stood, thrusting the can of coffee up as if presenting a sacrifice. "I'll drink it! I will drink the commoner's coffee! Haruhi!" The prince snapped his fingers and Haruhi nearly rolled her eyes.

"I'm right here senpai," Haruhi muttered.

"Haruhi, make me a cup of this commoner's coffee. I would like to drink it as you commoner's do." He thrust the can into Haruhi's open hands.

"Okay… you know it's just instant coffee, right?"

"You're that scholarship student, right?" One of the girls questioned. Haruhi noticed that a crowd had gathered around them at Tamaki's outburst.

The prince grabbed Haruhi's shoulder and pulled her to him. "Yes! This is the rare scholarship student, Haruhi Fujioka." Again, with the _rare_ thing.

The group of girl's oohed and ahhed. "Show us how to make commoner's coffee," one girl insisted and the next thing she knew, Haruhi was making instant coffee with an entire audience watching. Haruhi presented the group with the cup of coffee.

Slowly, Tamaki took a sip. He nodded. "Amazing! And all you did was mix the coffee in with the hot water?" She nodded. "Isn't it amazing how commoner's come up with the cheapest and most efficient ways of doing things?"

Most people would probably take offence at what was going on, but Haruhi simply rolled her eyes. Rich people were ridiculous but they were beginning to grow on her.

…

Later, as Haruhi was cleaning up, she noticed something unusual. Haruhi sighed. "Yes senpai?"

"What? Nothing."

Tamaki turned away from staring at her, but as soon as she had gone back to her cleaning she noticed him inching closer again. She turned and glared at him. "Yeesss?"

Tamaki looked sheepishly at her. "Haruhi, would you take off your glasses?"

Haruhi started. Her first thought was that she had a bruise or a black eye she has forgotten to cover-up. But then she decided Tamaki was too innocent and oblivious to notice something like that. Especially if the other's hadn't yet. So she pulled her glasses off and looked up at him.

There was a gasp and Tamaki was practically bouncing on his toes in excitement. Haruhi furrowed her eyebrows. What was he doing now?

Tamaki composed himself, but just barely. Then he clapped his hands together. "Mori, Honey, Kyoya, Kouru, Hikaru. Come here!"

And the boys were crowded around her and Haruhi found she had an audience for the second time that day.

"Not too bad." The twins both turned to look at Tamaki from either side. "What do you think boss?"

Tamaki smiled and offered Haruhi a hand. "Haruhi, how would you like to be a host?"

...

 **A/N Sorry guys. This chappy is short, but I wanted to go ahead and post it for you.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 –A Natural

Haruhi deadpanned. "No way."

She turned away, making her way back to her things on the other side of the room. It was time to go home and, for once, she was slightly relieved.

But it was not to be. Before she could blink, Tamaki had ordered the entire club into action and she found herself alone in a changing room with a new haircut, a pair of contact lenses, and a couple more bruises to add to her repertoire. She had struggled, but six boys against one pretend boy was sort of ridiculous.

Shrugging her shoulders in both indifference and slight defeat, Haruhi quickly changed into the uniform. She didn't bother to look at herself in the mirror. Pulling the curtain aside, she looked up at Tamaki. He was sporting tears in his eyes, and he had a twin on either side of him. They were applauding themselves, for they were the ones who got her hair into a more then presentable fashion.

Suddenly Tamaki was flying towards her, arms outstretched. Haruhi flinched, but the prince only grabbed her in a tight hug. He was exclaiming about how cute she was in her uniform. Haruhi wondered if this qualified as sexual harassment, and, if so, who she might talk to in this school to get it on the record.

Tamaki pulled away, pulling her chin towards him. Suddenly he wasn't the bubbly excited Tamaki he had been only moments ago. Instead he was prince Tamaki. Haruhi glared.

"Why, Haruhi. You're so beautiful, you almost look like a girl."

Haruhi didn't bother trying to deny it, but she didn't admit anything either. She'd decided that they could think what they wanted to think about her and she wouldn't care.

Hikaru slid up next to her just as Tamaki let her go. "Why didn't you tell us you had a face like that?"

Kauru came up her other side and the two met right in front of her, crossing their arms in mock disappointment. "With that face you could probably dredge up a customer or two." Kauru finished Hikaru's thought.

"Yes!" Tamaki jumped in, a little too enthusiastically, and Haruhi stepped back on instinct. She glanced around to see if anyone had noticed her jumpiness, but the only one who may have caught it was Kyoya, who's eyes she couldn't make out through the glare of his glasses. She turned back to Tamaki, who was still talking. "So how about being a host?"

Haruhi shook her head again, glaring at the princely character in front of her. "No," she said simply before turning around and making her way towards her things once again. This time she was determined to leave.

"I will forget your debt if you are able to satisfy 100 customers." It was Kyoya's voice, finally speaking up after all this time.

Haruhi froze. With a deal like that, she might consider it...

"Your debt is still comparable to eight million yen. I doubt you will be able to fully pay off your debt if you continue simply as our dog within the year." Kyoya paused. "From a business standpoint, the offer is good. 'A steal,' as they say. I'd take it."

Haruhi sighed. "Fine..." She turned around. Tamaki was nearly jumping in excitement.

...

The next day Haruhi found herself sitting across from two of Ouran's girls.

The silence between them was awkward and heavy and Haruhi was squirming in her seat. If someone had told her a year ago that this was what she would be doing with her life she would have scoffed and turned her back on them. But here she was, dressed as a boy, trying (and seemingly failing) to charm a couple of girls.

 _What should she do_? She wondered. And then a thought came to her. She bent down and picked up a tea kettle, looking up at the girls from below.

She had seen Tamaki use this technique plenty of times, and it always seemed to work.

"Would you girls like some tea?" she asked quite sincerely. The girl closest to her began to blush.

Haruhi served the tea.

And then everything became a lot easier. She nearly forgot the strangeness of the situation, and began to follow her instincts.

"Your mother passed away ten years ago?" One girl questioned quietly, placing her fingers against her mouth to hide her lips.

Haruhi nodded, looking down for a moment. But the sadness was an old sting and she glanced back up almost immediately.

"Then what do you do about the household chores?" The other girl asked. This girl was a little bolder, and instead of hiding her mouth to show polite curiosity, she sat forward in her seat, an intense look in her eyes.

"I do them myself mostly." Haruhi answered. She had a far-away look in her eyes. "My mother liked to cook, so she left a bunch of recipes to me when she died. It was fun to try to cook them, and my father was always pleased when I cooked mom's recipes." Haruhi looked up and gave the two girls a genuine smile. "I loved those times."

The two girls swooned, and the rest of the host club watched in amazement at how natural of a host Haruhi was. It didn't appear that anyone caught that her statement was past tense. Those times that she loved were now over.

But she would not talk about her new life with her uncle.

 _ **So far things are just going mainly according to the manga, but I am attempting to set things up. There should be some more of my own plot coming in the next chapters.**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**I am sooooo sorry for being gone for sooooo long. I started school, and started two jobs (one full time), and started a relationship with someone in the past however-long-its-been. I totally just lost motivation to write any of my stories because I was so tired when I had any time off.**_

 _ **But I promise to get back to writing, and I will do so consistently.**_

 ** _Thank you to any of my old readers who return to my stories after such an incredibly long time, and thank you new readers for reading! I love you all 3_**

Chapter 4 – The Secret is Out!

Another week passed. Haruhi acquired more bruises from her uncle, but she hid them well. The boy's uniform, unlike the girls, had long sleeves that could cover the black and blue marks. She found that dressing like a boy had its perks.

But one day something unexpected happened.

Haruhi was used to bullying. Being a poor scholarship kid at a school where everyone got an allowance bigger than the sum of your entire family's paychecks was bound to have some consequences.

But one day the bullying was taken to a whole new level and Haruhi found herself wading in a fountain looking for the contents of her backpack. Mostly, she was worried about her wallet, which was missing. She had sworn she put her wallet in her bag, which was now in the fountain. By logic, her wallet should also be in the fountain. But a half-hour's worth of searching seemed to disagree.

"Skipping your club duties to play in a fountain, are we?"

Haruhi looked up. There was the prince himself, looking at her with a condescending smirk on his face.

Most people looked at Haruhi condescendingly. She was a poor orphan. But the only condescending looks that didn't bother her were those of the host club. Especially Tamaki. Because, after a few weeks observation, Haruhi had realized that Tamaki gives this condescending look to _everyone_. It was apparently a part of his princely act.

"Why did you get your bag wet?" The prince asked. Haruhi suppressed the urge to roll her eyes.

"I dropped it and now I can't find my wallet."

There was a silence for a moment and Haruhi finally looked up from the water. Her senpai was taking his shirt off. Why did it seem like everything this guy did looked like the actions of a male model in the midst of a photo shoot?

"Sempai, what are you-"

Tamaki cut her off. "This is how you're supposed to do it," he said, splashing the water vigorously and successfully drenching the both of them.

"Tamaki sempai..."

...

Eventually the two went back to the club room. They had been unsuccessful in finding Haruhi's wallet. Haruhi sat across from a pretty girl, a senior, who was usually Tamaki's customer.

 _Why did she request me?_ Haruhi thought.

"What's that on your arm, Haruhi?" the girl asked, nodding at Haruhi's exposed arm. Her sleeve had slipped down as she went to pour tea.

"I fell this morning." Haruhi answered quickly. It was her go-to excuse. Anyone with any sense who actually cared probably would see through the lie in an instant, but clearly (and thankfully) the girl before her did not actually care.

She took a sip of her tea, calmly looking at Haruhi from under her eyelids. Once she finally delicately set the tea cup down, she spoke.

"I heard you lost your wallet in the fountain today," She said, "I wonder how that happened." Haruhi looked at her and the pieces clicked together. Suddenly she knew exactly who had dumped her backpack in the fountain. "And Tamaki went out of his way to help you find it, even got wet. Maybe you should stay away from Tamaki and whoever did this will stop." The girl suggested.

Haruhi raised her eyebrows. "So... you're jealous."

The girl startled and looked sharply at Haruhi. "I never-"

"It's okay," Haruhi interrupted, "I think I understand."

The girl scoffed. "What would a commoner like you understand?"

Suddenly the girl stood, flipping the table and grabbing Haruhi by her upper arms. Haruhi flinched, closing her eyes for a moment in surprise and braced herself for a blow to the head. But no blow came. Instead, she found herself falling forward. At the last second Haruhi flung her arms out and caught herself, barely preventing her face from making it's acquaintance with the ground.

"Help!"

Haruhi opened her eyes. Below her was the girl, screaming about having been assaulted. It took a moment for Haruhi to understand that she was accusing _Haruhi_ of having done the assaulting. But, before Haruhi could even think to react, the twins had taken care of it for her.

The girl's screams were cut off by two separate streams of tea, landing directly on her face. Haruhi backed up and watched from the ground, eyes wide, as Tamaki helped her customer up.

Haruhi was in a major state of shock. Her body had instantly frozen, fearful from the sudden noise. But now, after a moment's pause, she realized what the situation looked like. She was afraid of what Tamaki would say – or do – to her.

But Tamaki only looked at the customer.

"You are so beautiful..."Tamaki trailed off as he caressed the girl's face. "On the outside. But so ugly on the inside." He stepped away from her. "I don't ever want to see you here again."

Both Haruhi and the girl were staring at Tamaki in shock. Finally, the customer spoke.

"But Tamaki, I-"

Kyoya stepped up. "We know that you have been bullying Haruhi for quite some time now." He pulled out a folder and held up a series of pictures from inside. "Do not underestimate the resources of the Host Club."

The girl looked around, seemingly searching for a friendly face among the group. She found none. So, in a huff, she stomped to the door.

"Wait!" Tamaki yelled and the girl turned around, staring at the prince with hopeful eyes. "Please return Haruhi's wallet."

The girl frowned, shifting on her feet. "Fine. It's in my bag, which is downstairs in the classroom."

Tamaki nodded. "Then I will escort you to your bag, where you will return Haruhi's wallet to me." Tamaki turned to the twins. "You guys go get an extra uniform for Haruhi to change into. He'll catch a cold if he goes home wet like that."

The entire group watched as Tamaki followed the bully out of the room. Then, in a polite and efficient manner, Kyoya dismissed the rest of the guests. The hosts were silent until the last of them had left. Haruhi looked at each member of the group. They all wore different expressions on their faces. Hunny seemed to be his normal bubbly and child-like self, which Haruhi was glad of. It balanced out the angry look on Hikaru's face and Kauru's concerned gaze. Mori's expression was as stoic as usual, but his eyes were directed towards Haruhi and not Hunny, as per the norm.

The only face Haruhi couldn't get any read on was that of Kyoya. The taller man was turned slightly away and motioning Hunny towards himself, glasses creating an almost unnatural glare that blocked his eyes from view. "Hunny," Kyoya waved the smaller boy over and the blonde quickly joined Kyoya across the room, "go get Haruhi a new uniform as the boss directed. You know where to find them."

Haruhi grimaced as Hunny hurried from the room. She didn't like accepting help from others if she could help it, but she was sure that the prince would insist if she were to argue. She didn't doubt that he would even go so far as to force her into the clothing against her will. She certainly didn't want that, for two very big reasons. Haruhi sighed. It would be best to just accept the help.

"Thank you, you guys," she said to the members of the host club that remained. Hikaru, still looking angry, crossed his arms and turned slightly away, but he let out a breath and relaxed his face slightly. Kauru and Mori both nodded while Kyoya pushed up is glasses, causing another blinding glare.

"It won't be free, you know," Kyoya informed her, "the cost will be added to your tab, as well as the money the club just lost tonight by turning away our customers."

Haruhi glared at the boy, no longer feeling especially grateful, and muttered under her breath. IT was something about rich bastards being too cheap.

A moment later Hunny-senpai returned, a bundle of clothing in his hands, wrapped up in a plastic bag so that she couldn't actually see the clothing. Haruhi couldn't help but to smile at the older student as he handed her the bundle.

"I'll be right back," Haruhi said, excusing herself to one of the changing rooms the host club had conveniently set up in the music room. Haruhi closed the curtain, humming to herself as she unbuttoned her outer shirt, which was dripping.

There was a sudden swooshing noise. "Haruhi, I got your..." the voice stopped and Haruhi froze. Although she normally avoided mirrors at all costs, she slowly looked up at her reflection, focusing behind her. There stood Tamaki, mouth agape, staring straight at her.

He had found out her secret. The question was, which revealed secret was he gaping at?


End file.
